Berberis x carminea

At a glance

Lifecycle
Perennial (hardy)
Exposure
Full sun
Frost limit
−23.3 °C

Cultivation

Prefers a warm moist loamy soil and light shade but it is by no means fastidious, succeeding in thin, dry and shallow soils. Plants are hardy to about -15°c. A very ornamental plant. The cultivar 'Buccaneer' bears very large crops of large fruits, even on small plants[K]. A good bee plant, the flowers are very fragrant. Plants can be pruned back quite severely, they resprout well from the base.

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame, when it should germinate in late winter or early spring. When the seedlings are large enough to handle, prick them out into individual pots and grow them on in a cold frame. If growth is sufficient, it can be possible to plant them out into their permanent positions in the autumn, but generally it is best to leave them in the cold frame for the winter and plant them out in late spring or early summer of the following year. This plant does not breed true from seed because it is a hybrid species. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Cuttings of mature wood of the current season's growth, preferably with a heel, October/November in a frame. Suckers, removed in late autumn/early winter and planted out in situ or potted up and planted out in late spring.

Edible uses

Fruit - raw or cooked. A pleasant though strongly acid flavour, it goes well in a muesli[K]. Most children, and a few adults, really like the fruit raw, but in general most people will prefer to cook it[K]. The fruits are about 10mm in diameter.

Medicinal uses

Berberine, universally present in rhizomes of Berberis species, has marked antibacterial effects. Since it is not appreciably absorbed by the body, it is used orally in the treatment of various enteric infections, especially bacterial dysentery.

Material uses

A yellow dye is obtained from the root.

Habitat

Not known in the wild.

Native range

A range of garden hybrids involving B. aggregata as one parent with other closely related species.

Same genus